


The Moving Castle of Raptors

by saezuri_nohito



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle Fusion, Animal Transformation, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-08 20:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4318539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saezuri_nohito/pseuds/saezuri_nohito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Claire Dearing's been turned into a raptor by the Indominus witch. Her nephews insist on coming along with her to find a cure, which she hopes lies with the lord of the Moving Castle of Raptors that looked more like a Mosasaurus as it stomps through the hills of the land of Nublar...</p><p>Or, basically Howl's Moving Castle, raptor style.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which Claire grows feathers amongst other things

In the land of Nublar, where such things as dinosaurs still roamed the land and magic was very much reality and not fantasy, it is quite rare for a woman to be as successful as Claire Dearing, the sole owner of a shop specialising in customised shoes for women.

So it would come to no one’s surprise that she would have her share of rivals, eager to watch her fail by any means necessary.

Though she never thought that she’d be cursed to become a raptor of all things by a witch, the Indominus as they called the albino woman behind her back, who was apparently jealous of not only Claire’s success in business but also of her beauty.

 _This is ridiculous!_ the now red feathered Claire thought, as when she tried to speak aloud all that came out where unrecognisable clicking and grunting sounds. She felt furious, and she could see that the fury showed in her new body quite tellingly, her feathers became all fluffed up and poofy. If it hadn’t been her reflection she’d been staring at, she would have thought the sight cute, but since it was actually  _her_ , all she felt was dismayed.  _What am I supposed to do?! I can’t even speak!_ Then she remembered the fact that her two nephews, Zach and Gray, had just come over to stay at her place for a spell while their parents duelled out about their failure of a marriage.  _Oh no, the boys - maybe I should get out of here before they find me looking like - like this!_

But she had realised too late. “It’s a velociraptor!!” she could hear Gray say in partial awe and fear, and when she turned around she could see that Zach was trying to shush his little brother and trying to bodily get out him out of the shop at the same time, away from her scary looking self.

<Boys!> she said, before she realised that she was now speaking in raptor speak and that the boys, even Gray, as much as he loved dinosaurs, did not understand dinosaur-speak.

 _Ok, wait a minute. Just calm down Claire._  She breathed out, and hoped that the boys didn’t see that action as being threatening. _Think. How can I explain to the boys that I’m their Aunt Claire and I have no interest in eating them and they don’t have to go out and yell to everyone that a raptor has appeared in my shop?_

Then the thought struck her. She had installed a new surveillance spell in the shop in order to prevent or catch thieves (not that there had been any successful thefts, but there had been enough calls that she got worried enough to invest in the spell). She made her way towards where she knew she could activate the spell, hoping that the Indominus hadn’t tampered with it.

Gray, noticing this, resisted even more from being dragged out of the room by his brother, “Zach look, look, it’s trying to do something!”

Zach did look, if only for a bit, but he was still trying to drag his naive brother out of the shop. “I don’t care what it’s trying to do Gray, we need to get out of here while it’s still distracted!”

But just before the both of them could manage to step out of the shop, Claire managed to prick the surveillance spell with one of her talons and a screen automatically popped up in the middle of the room, startling both the boys enough that they froze. Good thing too, as Claire managed to scroll the footage along to the part that happened just now, when the Indominus had entered the shop even after she was sure that she had bolted the door shut.

She watched herself being turned into a raptor, saw how it had twisted her figure unnaturally into the one she was now, and felt grateful at least that it hadn’t been a painful process. She noticed how the boys’ jaws had dropped opened at that, as they began looking from the her in the footage and the red raptor in front of them, trying to equate their heels-loving Aunt Claire with the feathered raptor in front of them.

They watched all the way until it reached the point where she had activated the spell in order to watch the footage, resisting the urge to tap one of her feet’s talons lest the sharpness ruin her expensive carpet. Then Zach had said hesitantly, “Aunt Claire?” while Gray was less reserved, making his way towards her, his arm reaching out before Zach could stop him.

Claire waited until her younger nephew was within arm’s reach before she leaned her head downwards and met the boy’s hand gently.

“Aunt Claire!!” Gray shrieked, hugging her neck tightly and she tried not to fall on the boy, since she wasn’t used to this body yet and the boy’s unexpected weight on her long neck was putting her off balance.

“Gray, you’re gonna make her fall over!” Zach scolded as he pulled him off her. He looked at her with a look that reminded her of her sister when she was in serious mode. “It’s really you, isn’t it Aunt Claire?”

She automatically rolled her eyes before she realised that maybe she couldn’t now as a raptor, only to find out that amazingly yes, she could still do so, a signature move that the boys knew their Aunt Claire did especially when she was exasperated.

That seemed to have finally convinced Zach, as he reluctantly let Gray go from his hold enough that the younger boy was free to pat his totally cool raptor Aunt Claire, oohing and aahing over her red feathers, not worrying about the fact that his aunt was stuck in this non-speaking, non-human form.

“What’re you going to do now Aunt Claire?” Zach asked. He at least seemed to have realised the seriousness of the situation.

 _I need to go find the, what was it called again?_ Claire tried to recall the gossip she’d hear Zara and her employees exchanging earlier that day when that moving castle that had only appeared recently passed by near their town. 

“ _Ohh look, it’s the Moving Castle of Raptors!” one of the younger employees had said excitedly to the weird looking building that was trying to pass itself off as a castle but looked more like an overly big Mosasaurus as it trudged along in the far off distance amongst the hills._

_“I hear the Lord’s a handsome one,” another young employee said, wiggling her eyebrows as she continued to work diligently on the customised shoe she had been assigned to make for a customer._

_“I hear,” Claire was surprised that Zara would join in this exchange of gossip, but when she heard what came our of her mouth a moment later, she understood immediately why she had joined in. “That he picks up girls and brings them back to his castle so that he can feed their hearts to his raptors.”  
_

_The tactic seemed to have worked and the two newbies immediately shut up, looked at each other in horror, and once more the shop was free from unnecessary chatter as the soft melody of the shop’s music spell filled the silence instead._

Realising that she definitely was going to need to be away from the shop until she found out how to turn herself back to normal, she decided that she needed to tell Zara to take over for her for a while.

She head-butted Zach’s shoulder (because she was afraid her talons might wound him, even if only a scratch - she felt her sister would never let her see them again regardless of the circumstances) to get his attention. Once she had it, she pointed with a talon to the moving picture of her and Zara in front of the shop. Then she curled her talons the best she could in an attempt to imitate the hand signal one would do in order to convey making a phone call.

Zach’s eyebrows furrowed. “You want me to call Zara for you?” She nodded. “Do you want me to tell her what happened?” he clarified. She quickly shook her head, horrified at the thought. If that happened, the first thing that’d be going through Zara’s mind would be that the boys were playing a prank on her but that she’d immediately come by to check anyway just in case anything had actually happened, which was the furthest thing from what she wanted right now.

“Tell her that Aunt Claire decided to take that vacation she never takes to Kingsbury!” Gray suggested excitedly. “And that she’s taking us with her!” he added excitedly.

<What?!> Claire squawked. <No I’m not! You two are staying here with Zara!> she said even though she knew they had no idea what she was saying, hoping that her no-nonsense tone still got her message across.

Zach crossed his arms, in a way that was reminiscent of her when she was being firm. “No way, Claire.” Oh no. Him calling her directly by her name was a sign that he was being serious. “You can’t even speak! How’re you supposed to explain to anyone that you’re not a dangerous raptor? Everyone’s going to want to hunt you down if you leave the shop without a human escort to tell them that!” He pointed to the photo frame of her Zara. “And if you don’t let us come with you, I’m going to tell her about everything!”

“Please Aunt Claire!” Gray was practically begging. “Let us stay with you! We don’t want you to get hunted down!”

Dammit, this is why she didn’t see them that often. She was totally wrapped around their fingers. She sighed, which still showed apparently even in raptor form, because the boys exchanged knowing looks and knew that they’d won their case.

.-.-.

The boys, Claire thought, were far to competent in repairing that old broken down jeep she had parked for what seemed like forever now in her shop’s garage for their age. The jeep was just nice, she could climb onto the opened back easily while Zach drove (which they were probably going to get into trouble with her sister for, once they went back and told her all about this mini-adventure anyway) and the three of them made their way to the Wastes where the Raptor Lord’s moving castle was usually seen prowling about.

On their way, of all things, a T. Rex started following them.

“Faster! Faster! FASTER!” Gray was screaming that last ‘faster’, tugging his brother’s shoulder backwards and forwards out of sheer panic while said brother was trying to shove him off him while he floored the jeep as much as he could, screaming back just as loudly, “I AM! Stop tugging my arm!!”

Claire meanwhile, was preoccupied with contemplating whether she should jump out of the jeep and lead the T.Rex away from her nephews, since it seemed like it was her that the old T.Rex was interested in.

The benefit of being turned into a dinosaur she discovered, was that  _she_  could understand dinosaur-speak. 

<Red!> the T.Rex was saying. <Wait!> she was calling.

Claire knew that many men had found her fiery red hair had attractive, but this was the first time she knew of an animal that was interested in her because of it. And of all things, it was a freaking T.Rex. Of course it was.

The sound of honking, of air gushing out of steam pipes and stomping of the earth could suddenly be heard, along with the appearance of the Mosasaurus-looking castle that made those sounds, looming over them like a promise of either hopeful salvation or ominous ruin, especially when they noticed that it had a ramp that looked suspiciously like one just suitable for a vehicle to drive up into it towards what seemed to be the entrance to the castle’s garage.

Zach made the decision for all of them. “We’re smashing through the door!” he warned. “Hold on!”

And then he sped up even more if that was even possible, and not waiting to see if the castle was going to stop with their sudden approach, smashed right through the door into a decidedly garage looking area.

“What the hell?!” they all heard someone curse. A black man appeared through the side door of what must lead to the main portion of the castle, “And who the hell are you lot?”

He sounded French, Claire had the time to notice absently, before he seemed to have noticed her in the backseat of the jeep and his eyes seemed to have softened. “Oh.” He turned to look at the boys. “You know, you could have just knocked if you needed help.”

“A T.Rex was chasing after us,” Gray said seriously. The man looked out over the hole their jeep had made through the garage door, down to where there was indeed a T.Rex looking dolefully up at them, out of reach.

“I see.” He let out one last sigh as he surveyed over the damage, rubbing the back of his head as he motioned them to come over. “Well, what’re you waiting for then? Come on in.”

“Name’s Barry,” he introduced himself once all three of them entered what seemed to be the living room. “I take it you’re looking for the Raptor Lord.” Both boys nodded, Gray more enthusiastically than Zach - though both of them had their hands protectively on their aunt’s feathered neck. “He went out for a ride with the pack - but he should be back soon. You guys can wait until he does.”

“You sure that’s a good idea Barry?” a new voice said from somewhere seemingly hidden. All three of them looked confused until Barry went to seemingly stoke the fire, except he was merely speaking to it.

“You were the one who wanted to check out what was making that racket Lowery,” Barry retorted as he stared down on the fire, which shockingly had a pair of eyes, a mouth and even  _glasses_ , of all things.

“Oh right, just blame it on the lowly fire demon!” the crackling fire complained. “Like I’m not being useful by continuously moving this Mosasaurus about!”

“You could stop anytime and go back to being stuck in the middle of that islet where we found you if you want.”

“Do you need some hot water? I could totally heat some up!” the fire demon said hurriedly. “Maybe our new guests want to take a bath??”

A bath sounded like such a lovely idea, Claire thought personally. But how was she supposed to enjoy one in this form? And what kind of bathtub was going to fit a raptor?

The boys seemed less enthused about the idea of taking a bath and they decided instead to go about making breakfast.

And then the door opened and in came the man she had only recently been on what must have been the worst date in history, riding astride his bike with four full grown featherless raptors on his sides.

Owen Grady, of all people, the last man she ever wanted to see again, was the Raptor Lord?!

On second thought, maybe staying stuck as a raptor forever sounded like a smashing idea right about now. 

.-.-.

To be continued


	2. In which Owen, dinosaur ladies man extraordinaire, gets two more girls in his castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen was expecting to come home with a good haul back for dinner that night for both his raptors and his fellow men, but instead finds that his garage door has a hole in it and four unexpected guests, one of who he never expected to see again, especially in this particular way.

It had been a pretty good hunt for Owen and his pack. They’d discover a herd of wild deer which he knew belonged to no one, so they were free to hunt them. The girls had caught one each and eaten some - of course with so many there were bound to be leftovers, which Owen carried back on his bike for the girls’ meals for tomorrow and also some for him and Barry and Lowery back at home.

And then he came home to a vehicle sized hole in his garage door and three new guests at his breakfast table.

Of all three, it was the raptor that seemed familiar to him for some reason, although he was pretty sure that he’d never come across such a unique looking raptor before, with its red feathers and green eyes.

Hmm…actually the colouring reminded him of someone…hmm…who was it…?

While he was lost in thought, his girls had gone ahead to greet Barry, Delta in particular had insisted that she would carry this deer leg all by herself, which she proudly dropped at the man’s feet. Barry patted and stroked her on the head, eliciting vaguely purring sounds from the raptor’s throat.

Echo stayed by Owen’s side, alarmed as she was by the presence of strangers, especially that of the strangely scented raptor. She might look like them mostly, but she sure smelled nothing like them. She smelt more like her alpha did, a human plus raptor thing.

Charlie, ever curious and mischievous, was the first to come forward and come within arms’ reach of the newcomers. The red raptor, who strangely had her plate on the table rather than on the floor like she and her sisters did, had stepped forward too, and Charlie found it strange but it seemed like she was covering the two small humans clutching each other at the table.

Blue though, knew when she saw another raptor feel like she needed to defend her territory. That was exactly what this raptor was doing.  _These two are mine_ , the red raptor’s entire body said.  _Take one step closer and I will rip you apart._

But Charlie was young and naive, she had no grasp of body language, so she thoughtlessly stepped closer due to curiosity and the red raptor screeched a warning.

<Stop!>

That voice made Owen freeze. It was one he’d heard before, but it had been in normal human speak, not in raptor speak. Disbelieving, he blurted before he could think to take it back, “Claire?!” at about the same time Blue had jumped in between her youngest sister and this raptor that was impossibly but somehow was anyway, Claire Dearing, the only woman  he had ever gone on a date with wherein the date failed within the first five minutes of it happening.

Blue wasn’t attacking Claire but she was definitely in threatening mode, which attracted her remaining two sisters to her side, as any alarm their beta felt concerned them too.

But Claire wasn’t backing down either, and she looked like she was about ready to die if it meant that the two boys behind her would be safe. He wondered if those two were her sons, she never mentioned that she ever had kids, but then again their date had been such a failure that they barely got to know each other except for the bad parts before they parted with no intention of meeting up again.

Owen was about to step in between the two groups before blood would spill, but then a roar broke through the hole in the garage door and a T.Rex’s head peeked through it.

This development had been so unexpected it shut everyone present up like a charm.

This new guest looked at Claire and her boys, then turned and roared at the rest of them. <Mine!> she declared.

Well. Maybe he didn’t really have to feel worried about Claire and her boys being outnumbered anymore.

Still. He went in between them anyway, adopting his signature stance when telling the girls to back off and calm down. “Girls, girls, girls!” he said in a scolding tone. “Where are your manners?! These are our  _guests_! Honestly, I thought I taught you all better than that!”

Their alpha’s candid tone confused them at first, especially with the appearance of the apex predator (even if it was only the head) which had loudly and possessively claimed the new strangers to be hers, but his whole body posture was relaxed and he seemed to not be on guard at all even though the strange red raptor was right at his back. Reluctantly, the raptors backed off, Blue being the most reluctant, and she still kept a wary eye on the now four ‘guests’ as their alpha called them. They knew that word meant that they were not to touch them, that they were welcome into their home, at least temporarily.

When the raptors finally moved away to the other side of the room away from where all the guests were, Owen finally turned to the raptor he believed to be Claire Dearing.

“Claire, is that really you?” he asked. But the older of the two boys stepped forward protectively in front of her before she could answer.

“And who’re you?”

He raised an eyebrow at the teen. “I’m the Raptor Lord, kid. You’re in  _my_ castle. And you are…?”

“We’re her nephews!” the younger boy exclaimed proudly. “I’m Gray, this is my brother Zach.”

“I see,” he said. Would the Claire Dearing he had met up briefly for that arranged date really have let her two nephews tag along with her on a journey to cure herself from a curse that turned her into a raptor? he wondered. There was certainly more to her than the first impression he got of an uptight, stiff woman.

The red raptor sighed. <Mr. Grady> she said, and he knew immediately that it really was her just from those words alone. <I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you again if not for the circumstances>

“Circumstances indeed,” he chuckled, earning a glare that could kill from her now even scarier looking eyes and confused looks from her nephews, who Barry quickly rounded up to finish breakfast so they would leave the two alone in private to discuss things (well, alone as they could be anyway, the T.Rex - who they decided to simply go with the name Rexy just because that was easy to remember - was still peeking through the hole in the garage door. Lowery was asking if the T.Rex would want some hot water, to which Barry dryly replied, “It’ll probably react badly to that, so  _don’t_  do it.”). “What happened?”

She sighed again. If she could have crossed her arms, she would have. As it was, she settled for tapping one of her talons on the floor. <The Indominus happened>


	3. In which bathtime is always a girl's priority, regardless of form Mr. Grady

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even though she's a raptor now, Claire is still hankering for that bath. But can Claire even swim in her form right now? Owen's 'bathed' his girls before, but Claire's a different story altogether...

 

And thus Claire began to tell him everything. Owen listened silently, only interjecting at points when he wanted to clarify something. When Claire finished telling the whole tale though, he gently told her, “I can’t do anything about it tonight. This is the first time I’ve come across this kind of curse. I promise to look into it first thing tomorrow morning.” 

To his relief, Claire seemed perfectly alright with that <Alright then> she said. But then she looked like she was contemplating something. But what she said was something that he never expected her to ask.

<Owen. Please tell me that you have a bathtub for your raptors>.

He raised an eyebrow at such a question. “Why do you want to know?”

<I feel really filthy. A girl just _needs_ a bath sometimes, Mr. Grady. Even if she’s currently a raptor>.

“ _My_ girls aren’t interested in water that much, Claire. _I’m_ the one that sponges them down when they get too smelly for us sensitive humans.”

That was one method the red-feathered woman-raptor did _not_ want to consider  <Couldn’t you move your castle next to a lake or something? I’ll just soak in one>

“Do you even know if you can even swim in that form?”

<I’ll just wade in!> she insisted, knowing how obstinate she sounded. <It’ll be fine>

“Claire.” Owen’s tone was firm and would entertain no nonsense. “Wait inside the bathroom for me." 

She wanted to protest, but that look - the one that Claire deemed the alpha one that he usually only exclusively used on his _actual_ raptors as far as she could tell - made her hesitate. In the end she acquiesced, but she refused to let him see that, as she simply made her way to where she’d seen her nephews go after she told them to shower and they reluctantly dragged their feet along as Barry guided them to the place while Claire had finished telling Owen what had happened.

 .-.-.

Claire glared at Owen as soon as he came into the bathroom. <You’re not touching me anywhere here, here or here!> she warned, pointing quickly with a talon in several directions that on a human woman would be her chest and lower body. 

He raised an eyebrow at that. “And what does that leave me to do then? Why don’t I just flick some water on you and let’s call it a job well done?”

She puffed. She really missed the ability to cross her arms. <Fine. But if I feel uncomfortable, you have to stop, alright?>

“What, you seriously think I’d make a move on you when you’re in _this_ form?”

<Yes Mr. Grady, because I’ve felt you _checking me out_ even when I’m in _this_ form >

Ohh. Busted (Can you blame him though, when she was such a fluffy raptor to look at? He had to hold himself back from touching those feathers and oohing and ahhing over them) To cover himself he said, “Well I won’t alright. I don’t have _that_ kindof fetish. I didn’t realise _you_ did though, Claire. I can’t decide if that’s _kinky…_ or gross.”

She made a sound that sounded a lot like a harrumph but did not dignify him with more of an answer. So slowly, Owen began the process of sponging down this woman who was currently a raptor who he was trying very hard not to remember was actually a human woman and very much his type, if his lower body had anything to say about it.

The feathers were as smooth as they looked. It actually almost felt like what he imagined Claire’s hair must be like. 

But suddenly the texture started feeling different. It was still smooth, but it felt a lot more like…skin?

Was it his imagination, or were the areas where he was touching her with his bare hands becoming softer and dare he say…more human?

Claire didn’t seem to have noticed. On a hunch, he placed his fingers without warning on her snout, but she fortunately managed to restrain herself from biting him, as she barked out, “Owen?! What’re you doing?!”

And then she also seemed to realise that she had just spoken in her normal human voice rather than in raptor speak. 

<Did I…did I just…?> she wanted to clarify.

But then Owen started stripping all of a sudden, even though up until then he had kept all his clothes on and just rolled up his pants.

<What’re you doing?!> Claire repeated, though she was frozen to the spot and thus witnessed the full scene of Owen leisurely taking off his shirt and vest. She tried her best not to stare at well, anything but his face.

Fortunately he seemed to have stopped stripping so at the very least he was wearing his pants. “I just need to try something out, okay?” he said as he approached her slowly. “Don’t move Claire.”

He put his arms around her neck and saw that bare skin was replacing the red feathers right where his bare skin was touching hers. He could hear her gasp when he pulled her into his arms, resting her face against his shoulder, and pulled her arms around his waist. He slid his hand down her back until it rested right at the end of her spine, making her raptor tail disappear. He lifted her now mostly human form and rested her shrinking raptor talon feet onto his bare ones, until they became fully tiny human toes once again, softer and warmer to touch.

“Owen?” she whispered. “Please don’t look down.” But even though she was whispering, he could still clearly hear the sliver of threatening tone conveyed in that one sentence.

He rested his chin on her head and smiled. “I think if I did that, you’d push me away, turn raptor, and probably rip my eyes out.”

“You know female raptors very well, Mr. Grady,” she said dryly. But then her tone turned serious. “What does this mean, Owen?”

“I think I can turn you back temporarily to human form because I’m also a human and raptor hybrid.”

She inhaled at that. “You’re part raptor?” 

He pulled his arm away from where it had been resting on her hip, and Claire denied the fact that she was totally missing the feel of it there. He brought his hand near to where her face was against his neck. To her shock, his hand started morphing into what was unmistakably raptor talons.

He put his arm back around here, except it slipped slightly lower down than before (trust Owen to take the opportunity to do that). “It happened when I gave my heart to the girls when they were babies.”

Claire gasped. “You gave your _heart_ to them?”

He shrugged. “I was a kid. And there were these baby raptors that fell out of the sky from nowhere and they were dying. So I did the only thing I thought would help keep them alive.”

“You were one brave kid.”

“Don’t you mean stupid?” That was what his mentor has called him, after all.

“That too. But giving your heart away just like that to someone who’ve just meet like that is definitely brave.”

Owen didn’t reply to that and just pulled her closer. They stayed like that for a bit, both almost entirely naked, her nudity partially covered by the fact that she was plastered to him.

“Owen?”

“Hmm?”

“Until when are we going to stay like this?”

“What, you don’t like it?” he asked, faking the sound of being immensely hurt by the motion.

“It’s not a matter of liking it or not, Mr. Grady,” she huffed. “We can’t just stay in this bathroom all night hugging.”

“You didn’t say you hated it.” He seemed pleased with that fact.

He couldn’t see it, but he could totally tell that she was rolling her eyes. “I’m going to let go of you now, Owen.”

 “But we haven’t finished bath time!” he complained.

She pushed him away and as soon as she did her raptor features began growing back. At the end of her transformation, she looked at him with an expression that on a human would have been a raised eyebrow.

<Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Grady. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to check up on my nephews.>

Then she stalked out of the bathroom with her head held high, leaving him staring in her wake as he pondered as to how he was supposed to survive dealing with this particular raptor case.

 

 

 


End file.
